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Laxman Deserves A Better Deal
Rahil
1-0 down, Australia eying their first series win in the sub-continent after long years. 2nd test match, India made to follow-on, a series defeat staring in the eye. When all was lost and the much touted home record almost mauled by the Aussies one man stood up and changed the course of a dying river.
Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman played the most elegant and arguably the finest innings in the history of test cricket. The stylish batsman from Hyderabad, who is often compared with Azhar for his use of wrists with sublime panache, suddenly became a star batsman in the already star-studded batting line-up.
Since his epic effort at Eden Gardens Laxman has played many a vital knock in the test arena, resurrecting the team from hopeless situations it found itself in, invariably down 4-5 wickets. He might not have scored a couple of dozen centuries but his silent contributions, often batting with the lower order, are enough matter to warrant an unquestionable place for him in the side.
Why then is a player of Laxman’s caliber put under the scanner every second match? What good is a selection committee that is more apt at putting pressure on players, through the media, than evincing confidence in them? Aren’t India’s selection policies flawed? But then that is Indian cricket off the field for everyone, one only needs to reconcile to its vagaries for it is a never-ending, disgraceful saga.
(Note: This piece was written before Laxman's magnificent century at the Eden Gardens against Pakistan on Saturday, it just didn't go up on time)
Laxman Deserves A Better Deal
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razorMirage
December 1, 2007
10:28 PM
The latest ICC test rating(before start of 2nd test) show him just below Sachin Tendulkar.
But I am sure with the second test performance he will jump ahead of Sachin.
I am curious to see how press handles that.
And yes, I agree with you 100%.
He is the only 3rd Indian player in top 20 ICC ranked players.Other two are Rahul and Sachin.
If you compare the star status of the other two he looks a outsider.But reality is different.
sami
December 2, 2007
02:28 AM
VVS Laxman is always given a rough deal. It took many years to give deserved cricket to even a cricketer like Kumble. They just aren't the glamorous players of the Indian team. Can you remember a time when Laxman went without scoring at least a 70 over a period of time? And he plays at 6th position. On pure batting tracks, Rahul, Sachin and one of the openers take away most of the first 5 sessions!
Laxman doesn't seem to be too comfortable higher up the order, for his own loss, even if the captain occasionally wants to send him at position 3 or 4.
Kartikeya
URL
December 2, 2007
04:47 PM
I think he is an automatic choice and always has been as far as the management and the selectors are concerned.
The press of course has been less convinced. But then again, when 10 out of 11 players select themselves, it becomes a boring story. So they have to manufacture something somewhere....
Have you ever heard anything which casts any doubts on VVS's place from either the selectors or the Test captains?
Rahil
December 4, 2007
05:17 AM
There is no smoke without fire!! It's all too ok to blame the media for everything, but somewhere isn't the media fed with with stories which have some truth about them?
Chandra
December 4, 2007
05:58 AM
Sami 2
Laxman scored 281 and 167 up the order. Going up the order is not an issue. Going down the order for the others is an issue.
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